Auriculotherapy is the stimulation of
the auricle of the external ear for the
diagnosis and treatment of health
conditions in other parts of the body.
It is also known as ear acupuncture or
auricular acupuncture when the
stimulation is achieved by the insertion
of acupuncture needles, whereas the term
auriculotherapy often refers to
electrical stimulation of the surface of
ear reflex points. Specific points on
the ear can also be stimulated by manual
pressure, referred to as auricular
acupressure or ear reflexology.
Acupuncture points on the ear can also
be stimulated with lasers, magnets, and
ear pellets.

What is the History of Auriculotherapy?

The
earliest written records of ear
acupuncture date back to the Yellow
Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine,
a compilation of acupuncture procedures
that were in practice in 500 BC. Within
this extensive text that covers a
variety of acupuncture treatments, there
is mention of specific acupuncture
points on the external ear for the
relief of certain medical disorders.
However, the manner in which auricular
acupuncture is practiced today in China
is actually based upon more recent
discoveries that occurred in France in
the 1950's. The Traditional Oriental
Medicine practiced in ancient China
included just a scattered array of
acupoints on the auricle for just a few
health problems, whereas the current
practice of auricular acupuncture shows
a more complete organization of ear
reflex points that can be used to
relieve many health problems. In the
West, the earliest references to ear
treatments were referred to in medical
records from ancient Egypt, Greece, and
Rome. The most complete descriptions of
medical treatments through the ear were
recorded in ancient Persia. A trail of
evidence of the use of auricular
stimulation for the treatment of
sciatica back pain can be followed from
these Persian records through medieval
Europe to modern France. Since the
1950's, the use of specific ear points
as a complete reflex system that can
alleviate many health problems has been
utilized by clinical practitioners in
other parts of Europe, in Asia, and in
North and South America.

Who discovered Auriculotherapy?

While
the earliest uses of ear acupuncture
points dates back to ancient China,
modern applications of auriculotherapy
are based on the work of Dr Paul Nogier
of Lyon, France. In the 1950's, Dr.
Nogier noticed a strange scar on the
upper ear of some of his patients. He
found that all of them had been treated
for sciatica pain by a local lay
practitioner. This woman had cauterized
a specific area of the external ear in
order to relieve their low back pain. Dr Nogier
conducted a similar procedure on his own
sciatica patients and found that their
back pain was also reduced. He then
tried other means of stimulating this
"sciatica point," including the use of
acupuncture needles, and found that they
too were effective in alleviating
sciatica pain. The brilliance of Dr Nogier
was in extending this one observation
into a more comprehensive model. Dr Nogier theorized that if an
area of the upper external ear is
effective in treating low back pain,
maybe other parts of the ear could treat
other parts of the body. The ear is said
to represent the whole anatomical body,
but in an upside down orientation.
Nogier's theory contended that the
auricle could be compared to an inverted
fetus, with the head represented on the
lower ear lobe, the feet at the top of
the external ear, and the rest of the
body in-between. This model was first
presented to naturopathic practitioners
in France in 1957, then spread to
acupuncturists in Germany, and finally
was translated into Chinese. The Chinese
seemed to have adopted the inverted
fetus model of ear acupuncture in 1958.

What are Auricular-Somatic Reflexes?

The
basic concept in auriculotherapy is that
nerves in the skin overlying specific
areas of the external ear correspond to
specific parts of the brain which has
reflex connections to the body.
Organo-Cutaneous Reflexes are activated
when organic pathology in a specific
part of the body induce reflex reactions
in the external ear, manifested as
localized changes in tenderness, altered
blood circulation, and electrodermal
reactivity. Cutaneo-Organic Reflexes are
activated when specific points on the
auricle are stimulated in order to
relieve organic pathology in another
part of the body.

What is Somatotopic Inversion?

The
inverted fetus pattern that is
represented on the auricle is referred
to as somatotopic inversion. The word
"soma" means "body" and the word "topic"
refers to a topographic "map." The
auricle is a map of the body in an
inverted or upside down pattern.

What health conditions are most helped
by auriculotherapy?

Because
every part of the external ear connects
through the microsystem remote reflexes
to every part of the body, a wide
variety of health problems are relieved
by auriculotherapy. Almost all health
conditions can be affected to some
degree by stimulating reactive ear
points. The most commonly reported uses
of auriculotherapy have been for the
control of chronic pain, detoxification
from addictive drugs, relief of nausea,
and reduction of hypertension.

How does auriculotherapy affect pain
conditions?

Most
chronic pain is due to myofascial pain,
related to the constriction of the
connective tissue surrounding muscles in
spasm. Muscles do not remain in spasm
unless there are motor neurons causing
them to contract. Maintenance of
pathological muscles spasms is due to
pathological brain reflex patterns that
keep spinal reflex re-initiating the
activation of the motor neurons that
cause muscles to sustain their
contraction. By stimulating ear reflex
points that connect to the somatotopic
reflex system in the brain, the
pathological brain patterns can be
electrically reset stop the unwanted
activation of spinal reflexes. Pain
sensations that are due to irritated
nerves can be relieved by the
normalizing of pathological,
hypersensitive reflex pathways that
interconnect the ear microsystem and the
somatotopic brain. In addition to these
neurological explanations, it is also
theorized that pain relief from
auriculotherapy is achieved by the
hormonal release of endorphins into the
blood.

How are other conditions relieved by
auriculotherapy?

By
facilitating a balancing of energy
throughout the body macrosystems or by
correcting pathological reflex centers
in the brain, stimulation of the
auricular acupuncture microsystem can
lead to a homeostatic state whereby any
form of stress or pain is lessened.
Stimulation of the specific ear reflex
points that correspond to a particular
area of the body leads to either a
reduction of excess stimulation or an
enhancement of diminished under activity
of the affected region. The overall
effect of auriculotherapy is to create a
more balanced condition throughout the
body.

How difficult is it to learn
auriculotherapy treatment procedures?

Because
of the simplicity of learning the
inverted fetus somatotopic pattern on
the ear, basic mastery of
auriculotherapy skills can be achieved
in just a few training sessions. The
Auriculotherapy Manual by Dr Terry Oleson provides a detailed description
of over 250 ear reflex points and
presents specific treatment plans for
over 200 health conditions in a manner
that is both comprehensive yet easy to
understand.

How long do the benefits of
auriculotherapy last?

The
range of responses to an auriculotherapy
session are quite varied, but it is
common that a patient suffering from
severe pain will notice mild to marked
reduction of their complaint on the very
first session. This reduction in their
pain experience can actually improve for
the next several hours after treatment,
but the benefits often begin to subside
several days after the first treatment.
With each successive treatment, the
degree of pain relief usually becomes
more and more prominent and the duration
of pain relief progressively extends
from several days to several weeks.

How many treatment sessions are needed
to help patients?

There
is no set number of treatments for any
health condition treated by
auriculotherapy, but it is common that
the severity of most conditions are
moderately reduced by four to six
sessions and greatly alleviated by eight
to twelve sessions.

How many times per week are treatments
provided?

The
number of treatment sessions per week
depends upon the schedule of the
patients, as well as the severity of
their health condition. When possible,
severe conditions can be treated on a
daily basis, but many patients are not
available to come in that often.
Typically, patients are given two
treatments per week for two to three
weeks, then once a week for several more
weeks. The frequency of sessions
progressively decreases to once a month
as the medical disorder becomes less
pronounced

What
are the side effects that occur from
auriculotherapy?

Because
tenderness of ear points is one of the
primary diagnostic features of
auriculotherapy, soreness on the ear
points stimulated can sometimes continue
for up to an hour after the treatment.